


Remember Me

by SilverLine3



Category: Steroline - Fandom, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:59:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4126260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverLine3/pseuds/SilverLine3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This has become his habit. Wake up every day, freshen up, walks out of the house, and stand opposite to the same old red building. He waits, and waits for her to walk out of there, and make his morning sunshine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Her fingers trail on every possible flower, and when it stops at the much known jasmine, his lips curled up, and his eyes glow like the lamp-post in the winter night. Not like it’s new to anyone. She always finds the right thing.  
“I will be choosing this one.” She turns on her heels, flawless and with grace. She flashed her hundred bolt smile on the shop guy, making his heart to flutter. He is glad that his standing far away, out of her reach of hearing his uneven breathing. From the corner of his eyes, on the glass window, he saw someone mirroring the wide grin. It took a second to adjust that it was his own reflection. For a second he thought her eyes flashed at him

For a second he thinks, her eyes are flickering in his direction. And maybe it stays there, searching for something. But, she turns around busying herself in finishing her payment. Even if her eyes meet him for a fraction of seconds, he is happy to take it.

 

 

 

She is walking on the street, two streets across the way, turning on the same corner.  
“You look pretty today, as always.” A little girl on the way, comes in front of her, and makes her laugh even more.  
“Aww, thank you, as always.” She isn’t surprised by the compliment, not because she knows she is pretty, but because she crosses this girl every day. And every day, she says the same words and flashes her baby milk teeth.  
He isn’t near enough to see her reaction, but isn’t far either. He can hear them very clearly. As usual, her laughs are enough in stretching his lips into a wide grin.  
A second passes, and she vanishes inside the same old building, like the usual day.  
“Thank you.” He mouths the little girl on the way, like he does each and every day.

 

 

 

 

On the corner of the street, in her favorite Italian restaurant, she enjoys the breeze coming on her way. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breathe.  
“Is it the usual ma’am?”  
“You know it, Peter.” Returning the menu back, she leans on her chair more, and looks around with a smile. Life is really beautiful for her.

And she is the life for him. Two tables across from her, he orders the same.

“So, now you have to agree this is the best Italian sauce.” Peter is wearing a smug smile, and why shouldn’t he? After all, they are the best in the whole town, maybe in the whole world.  
“Mm, nope, I still pretty much think this is the second best.”  
“What are you saying?” Peter pretends to be hurt, but he isn’t. How can he be? No one can actually be angry with her for more than five seconds.  
“Hey, don’t try to be cute okay. I said you are closer, but still the second best. Take it or leave.” Her laughs were echoing in the air around him, and he is pretty much enjoying this.  
“At least give me the name.”  
“There is none.” Peter gives her a strange look, and she jumps into her defense. “I just feel that I have tasted the best one somewhere. Must be my heaven.” Peter laughs at her being adorable and winks.  
He is chuckling too. A heaviness lifting from his heart, and filling with joy. His eye drops on the grounds, but the smile is still there.

 

 

 

 

She is running late, and so she is walking fast. Faster way possible, in a human speed anyway. She realizes that, carrying so much of the boxes all by herself was a bad idea. She didn’t realized when she drops that little one on the top.

“Excuse me.” The voice is smooth, and she feels a sense of chill through her body, she turns around, but the stupid boxes are blocking her sight.  
“Uh, you dropped this one.” Instead of returning the one his hands, he takes out the three from the top of her stack of boxes in her hands.  
‘Thank you.” She says when she catches her breath. The guy is smiling a little. But, she is pretty sure she sees a tinge of red on his cheeks.  
They are walking in silence. Caroline is literally biting her tongue.  
“So are you new in this town?” she looks at him, and he licks his lips and shyly smiles.  
“Uh, not so much.” His eyes are still on the ground, trying not to stare at her too much.  
“I am sorry if it sounded rude or something, but I just asked you because I have never seen you around.” She is rambling, and she wants to stop. She wonders if something is wrong with her today.  
“Ca-“taking a halt for two seconds, he continues “I was going to say, that you care too much. There is nothing rude about this.” Their stares remain there longer than he anticipated for. His heart has started to race. But, this kind of effect around her is not a news to him, is it?

“Hey, Caroline, you are here.” They were jerked out of their trance by the third voice.  
“Hey.” She beams at the other guy, and he takes the boxes from her hands.  
“Well, aren’t you missing something?” The new person pouts and makes her giggle, ultimately making her lean in to get a swift kiss.  
“How can I forget that?” still on her toes, she blushes tucking her arms under his.

“Uh, I will leave, then.” Caroline turns around to take the other boxes from him.  
“Thanks once again. I will… see you around?” she gives him a warm smile and he mimics.  
‘  
“Is he my replacement or something?” she bumps her elbow on his arm, laughing out loud.  
“Shut up Stefan.” He was tracking his way back, when heard it, and stopped in the middle.  
I didn’t mentioned the name to her.  
His heart has never beaten so fast. His whole world is getting occupied by hope every passing second.

“Who is Stefan… if you are forgetting my name is Steve.” Steve raised his eyebrow at her.  
“I… I don’t know any Stefan. I must have said Steve. You ears are ringing.” She is smiling, head still in confusion, all over the place. Her eyes wander in the empty space.

He is still standing there, waiting for her, looking at her from afar. Praying for a sign, a hint, or anything. She is laughing for sure, but not for him, and she is under the hold of the strong arms, but which doesn’t belong to his body. Taking a deep gulp, he sighs, looking at the clear sky filled with twinkling stars while his eyes are glistening with his own tears.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She rushes out as if she saw some ghost in there, and he is left alone, watching her diminishing slowly, and a minute later, he is still staring on the rolling glass door rocking back and forth.

Stefan is walking in one of the aisle, mentally searching for the book he wants, when for the first time she notices him.

“Lost in the ocean of books?” He turns all at once, when the soothing voice drops in his ears.

He is in shock at first, but when the reality starts to sink in, he feels like his frowned brows are getting smoother. She is smiling brightly at him, and so he smiles too.

“I, uh, I was looking for a book.”

“Oh which one? I pretty much come every day over here, but today I didn’t, and then I was passing by and saw you standing…. Not like I came here now because of that. Like I said, I come here every day because they have really good collections. And I like to spend hours over here. And the ambiance over here is really calm, and relaxing, and-“

“Caroline” He interjected. She was blabbering. To hide that one slip, she kept talking. She did stopped though. She looks at him for a second, as if she is having a déjà vu.

Taking a deep sigh, she replies, “I was saying nonsense, right?”

“Well, everyone do that sometimes. It’s okay.” There is something in his stares which she couldn’t fathom. But the more she looks at him, the deeper she feels like falling into the forest of green.

“So, uh, which book?” she is the first one to break the stares. She starts looking at the shelves, picking a random book and offering him the one she just took out.

His eyes falls on the title of the book, and his smile falters away slowly.

His eyes finds its way back into her bright blue eyes. For a second, he hesitates to ask, but couldn’t stop himself either.

“I…. it’s my favorite book.”

“I know, The Great Gatsby is my favorite too.”

“Is it?” he chuckles, knowing exactly what her reaction would be.

She looks at him for a while, and laughs. “No, I am more into Jane Austin.”

“I know.”

“How do you know?” she asks him all of a sudden.

“Well, how did you knew that I was looking for this book?” he raises his eyebrow, giving her a challenging look.

“I don’t know.” That was her instant reaction. She doesn’t know the answer.

She looks at him clueless, when the second realization hits her, the one she missed so easily.

“How do you know my name?” This was his time to sink into the reality of his own mistake.

“You told me.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, when you were talking to your… boyfriend. He called you by your name.”

“And you remember it?” She is not angry. But the thing, that a complete stranger remembers her name, feels more important than it should have been.

He didn’t say anything. His eyes shyly falls on the ground, and she smiles even more.

“But, the problem is, I don’t know your name.” His eyes blinks in seconds towards her.

A beat passes, when he replies, “Stefan. Stefan Salvatore.”

There is something different in her reaction, more confusing, yet, like picking up the puzzle pieces. He is expectant, and the longer she stays still, the more his heart accelerates.

“It’s… a nice name. Glad to meet you.” She rushes out as if she saw some ghost in there, and he is left alone, watching her diminishing slowly, and a minute later, he is still staring on the rolling glass door rocking back and forth.

 

 

“Caroline, you are late.” Susan isn’t happy with her today. But, when is she? Whenever possible, she loves to take an outage on Caroline,

“I know, I am so sorry. But, I have done almost all the preparation. And this event is going to be perfectly fine.”

“It should better be.” She can sense the bitterness in her tone, which angers Caroline even more.

“Susan, when did I have ever given you a chance to regret? I will handle everything.” Even Susan knows that. If she would try to look for the best other than Caroline, even with a searchlight in her hands, she won’t find any. Caroline has a pretty good name as an Event Manager.

“There is a new intern though. I am making you in charge.” Susan spills that out very casually. The words from Susan’s mouth almost chokes in Caroline’s throat.

“What? But, I don’t have time to train someone.”

“As you, said, you never give me a chance to regret. So, don’t give any now. Plus, he has to learn from the best we have.” Caroline almost cursed her, wishing to strangle her toad-like neck in her hands. Only if she had the power to do that. Counting up to ten, in her head, she take deep breaths in and out. She do that a lot. Since when, if she tracks that back, she couldn’t remember it.

“I was told to meet my trainer.” The voice is deep, and she turns on her heels to meet the new member in the room.

“Yes, Caroline will be training you from now.” Susan goes to greet him.

“Caroline, this is-“  
“Stefan.” She exhales a big sigh of relief. And he joins her in the relief zone.

 

 

“Are you blind or what? Do you really think that this color of the flowers matches with the chair?” She is on the verge of explosion. So much has to be done, and so less time.

“Hey, and who told you to put that bar over there. Do I have to tell you everything.” It’s like her eyes are roaming everywhere, scrutinizing each tiny bit.

“Someone is really in control today.” With two coffee cups in his hands, Stefan walks straight towards her.

“Yeah, tell me about it. I am super stressed right now. And nothing is done. Not even twenty percent of the list is finished, and if Susan comes to know about this, she will kill me, or even worse. She will tell everyone that I can’t handle even one event.” By the end of her continuous chatter, her eyes are wide in shock.

“Stefan, she will tell-“

“She won’t. I promise you, nothing will happen.” She takes the coffee from his hands, the same time when Steve tends to come.

“How is my care bear doing.” Steve likes to be cheesy, and she doesn’t mind that either.

“Tired, and exhausted.”

“And I don’t think she will drink that coffee.” He looks straight towards Stefan. 

“I am sorry man, but when it comes to food and drinks, she is really picky. Only I know the torture I go through before finding a decent restaurants for our dates.” She bumps him with her elbow straight into his chest. Steve is laughing, doesn’t mean Stefan has to laugh too.

Stefan waits for her to return the coffee, instead she raises the cup to her lips, and takes a sip. In one split second, he sees million expressions on her face. Shock, amusement, happiness, relief. But, at the end she is smiling.

“Its… perfect. The way I like.” He looks at her, and loses his strength to breathe when she gives him the wide-eyed smile. Steve put his arms around her, breaking their attention towards each other, as if he is drawing a territory. Caroline feels a lump of guilt, when her eyes wanders back and forth between Stefan and Steve. 

“There is nothing in my head. There is nothing to worry about.” she keeps saying that in her head, convincing herself. “I love Steve.” she adds this to her previous mantra. Her brain is working fine too. But, heart and eyes are still inclining obtuse to Steve, more towards the guy in white T-shirt, and casual black jeans. The mantra is on loop in her head now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He falls back, which makes her lose the balance on her heels. In the middle of all this imbalance, she ends up in his arms, holding him tightly, her face mere inches apart from him.

Her eyes are closed, trying to reach for some peace in her small world of clouds, when she senses the bounce of the springs in the couch, on which she has been trying to relax.

“Tired, huh.” Stefan has taken the seat inches away, and she can feel the heat radiating from his body. This warmth feels good though, like, she has been missing this proximity for her entire life.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” She doesn’t even have a strength to speak today. But, she finds a way to talk.

He blames it on his reflexes when his hands reaches on top of her forehead, and starts to stroke her soft skin clockwise. He feels the lines crunching on her forehead, and he is about to take away his hands, when he hears her saying a thank you. He can feel her skin which was wrinkled up a while ago, feels relaxed.

She feels the cold touch of those fingers, and a sudden electric current passes through her body. She is thinking weather she should stop herself from thinking too much, but she ends up giving in to her weakness. His touch feels good, like she has been lost and with his one single touch, she has found her way back home.

 

The fresh rays of sunlight tries to peek from the window in her room, and falls directly on her sleeping body, and her eyes squeezed in reaction. She groans in frustration, taking one of the spare pillow and cover her whole head with it.

It takes her a minute or two to realize that she should check her clock. With one eye still close, she does what her brain commands her to do. One more minute passes, and with sudden jerk, she sits up on her bed, wide awake.

It would be an understatement, if she says that she is late today. Late is the least similar word she would try to suggest. Waking up three hours late is not there in her routine.

“Susan is going to kill me today, for sure.” Mumbling the words, she starts to get ready as fast as she could.

 

 

“Susan, I am-“She is about to speak more, when for the first time she see a smiling Susan.

“Caroline. I am so happy to see everything done so well. There is a reason why I hired you.” Caroline’s brow itches to rise in surprise, when Susan pats her on her back and leaves her there, gawking in the empty space.

Her eyes finds its way back to him, standing in the corner of the office, giving her the best smile he could. Stefan walks towards her, and stops right in front of her.

“Someone is late today.” He puts his hands deeper in his front pockets, and she thinks she might forget to breathe for a second.

“I don’t know, what happened. I am never this late in my life.” she tries to look anywhere but at him, because looking into his eyes is not doing any help today.

His Denim jean jacket is so tempting that she just wants to hug it, and melt in his scent.

“Uh, what was that all about? I mean, when I was coming here, I was all panicky that I will be going to hear her shrieking voice in my ears for lagging in the management.” He chuckles on her thought. After staring at him for a second, she figures it out.

“You did this, didn’t you?”

“I did what?”

“You took care of everything which was required, didn’t you?”

“Well not everything.” His words were shy and merely a whisper.

She looks at him, feeling numb, and losing herself in the moment.

“Thank you. Thank you for doing this.” His grin becomes wider when he sees her eyes beaming with a glow he has been waiting to see almost his entire life.

“Its my job too.” He tries to rationalize his work, but it doesn’t mean she can’t feel dizzy the moment he took her hand, circling his thumb on her skin, venting away all the craziness inside her.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t be the trainee.” Their stares are broken due to the loads of work they has to do.

 

Three events in a row, with the magnificent reviews, and the clients came from across the whole town, knocking their office door.

 

 

“Stefan, why are you so nice to me?” she asks him all of a sudden.

He doesn’t know what to say, so he just chuckles.

“What? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.”

She wants to ask him more, but doesn’t want to be clingy either, so she control herself from asking too many questions.

“I don’t know.” His voice echoes in the empty cafeteria. She looks at him, her eyes dancing all over his face. “I don’t know why I do the things I do, Caroline.” There is something in the way he says her name. And every time he do that, her heart skips a beat or two. Strange, that even though it stops beating, she feels more alive than ever.

 

 

“Salvatore. So you must be from Italy.” They are walking side by side

“My roots are from Italy.”

“Well tomato, tomahto!” she says almost rolling her eyes.

“Yeah I have a specialty in making sauces, if that’s what you are wondering.” He tells her before she could even frame the question in her mind.

“How did you? Never mind, I think you have a mind reading quality, and maybe that’s why you read me so well.” She teases him and he lets her.

“How come if you are such a great cook, and never invited me for dinner?”

“Caroline, are you inviting yourself for dinner at m place?” he looks at with a raised eyebrow, with his lips twitching to smile.

“Yeah, maybe I just did.” He laughs at how silly he is for not asking her at the first place.

 

Being calm is the last thing on her list today. To manager the new even is a chaos. Everything is out of order. The lighting is dim, the cake was supposed to be four layers, instead it ended up being two. And now, she has lost it.

When she sees the Haul stopping by at the gate, she couldn’t help herself to yell at yet another person, for being late on the day of the ceremony.

“I will go and see that.” saying this, she walks away from Stefan, to yell at yet another worker. Today, anyone who has come across the receiving end of her conversations, have left the place in tears.

Stefan is two feet behind her, walking at the same pace as she is, when things happen in the blink of an eye.

One second she was walking on the grass, and by other, she is throwing her hands around her head, almost squealing and jumping on the sudden attack of water sprinkler. Two seconds, later she realizes the source of it.

“Stop… it… right… now.” she tried to speak in between the water pressure she has been feeling.

“You need to calm down, Caroline.” There is a wide grin on his face, pasted as if it is never going to wear off.

“You have messed up with the wrong girl, Stefan.” And the next moment, he is running, somehow getting dragged in the circumference of the water fountain he just turned the knob on for Caroline.

He is fast, but she is faster, and so her hands stretches forward to stop him. She grasps his checked shirt from behind, pulls him back.

He falls back, which makes her lose the balance on her heels. In the middle of all this imbalance, she ends up in his arms, holding him tightly, her face mere inches apart from him.

Slowly she raises her head and looks at him. They have been dripped into the water, soaking and out of breaths. He leans in towards her, knowing too well that he shouldn’t. But he couldn’t stop.

One honk from the truck was enough to bring her out of the trance she has gone into. The reality starts to sink in her head, and now she is backing away, out his arms, too shocked to interpret the moment. Without saying anything to him, she leaves awkwardly towards the Haul mumbling the words he picked up being can’t, not me, engaged and Steve.

I can’t do this. It’s not me. I am engaged with Steve.

Rephrasing the words stings even more than he thought he could. Now, the only thing which is left behind his still body and his heart which is breaking piece by piece.


	4. Chapter 4

All the time, Caroline’s eyes flickered in his direction, who was busy in helping with the fixing of the lighting. On fifth or sixth time, her eyes lingered there for longer than usual, thinking that he might turn around to give her the smile, the one which comes on his face only for her, his “Caroline Smile”, she likes to call that in her head.

_One_

_Two_

_Three_

She was counting the ticking in her wrist watch, but he didn’t turn around. A sudden rush of panic wrapped around her, when she realized the awkwardness in the air.

“Hey, I think the lights are still dull.” She couldn’t wait anymore, and so, she decided to talk random stuff.

Stefan looked at her from the corner of his eyes, and linked another wire which she couldn’t differentiate even with their colors.

“It’s done.” He looked at her for a second, curling his lips up a little and keeping his distance from her, he walked back in the other side.

Caroline was about to open her mouth, but it was too late. The guilt in the pit of her stomach was vibrating. She shouldn’t feel this, but she was.

 

 

 

 

The whole duration of the ceremony went in a blur. Caroline did her best to let herself busy into every little task. It was her old habit to distract herself from being vulnerable. Unfortunately, for her, things were settled, and now there was nothing left to be done. She was standing in one of the corner looking at the dancing bride and groom, and a natural smile came on her lips.

The girl was in the white dress, which was hugging her body at the right places. The bride was gorgeous. With her bun hair, and light smoky eyes, she looked like an angel fallen from the sky. And Caroline’s breath was taken away the way the groom was leading her in the dance, with one hand around her waist and one strongly holding the hand.

For a blink of an eye, her world stopped moving when she imagined herself in the fish cut white dress, embroidered with delicacy and pearls. And she was giggling when the guy, turned her around. The image that came in front of her, stayed there just for a second, but it was enough to make her heart heavy. His face was still there in her head, the way he was smiling, and blushing when she tried to cheer him up. They were coming and going like flashes of Stefan…. Stefan Salvatore.

_Am I daydreaming about Stefan?_

The more she asked this to herself, more she unconvinced with her own answer. The dream felt so real to her, that she started to feel the chill in the air. She could feel his arms wrapped around her waist, and when he lowered his head, she could feel his breaths on her bare shoulder.

Caroline came out of her trance, when she saw Stefan standing on the other side of the room, staring at the couple dancing in the middle. She regretted it to be just a dream, wishing if there might be a day when she would actually dance with him.

His eyes got fixed at her at the same time when she looked at him. She smiled at him, and he did the same, but it was lost, when he saw Steve coming from behind her.

“We should totally dance.”

“Steve! What are you doing here?” she was alarmed and little disappointed to see him there.

“I come to your every event. Don’t I?”

“Yeah… yeah, you do.” He leaned in to kiss her, but the dream felt much livelier now. The world around her didn’t seem real anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

Stefan took the glass from the waiter’s tray and stood at one of the corner. Alcohol was the only way to distract himself. Last time he was in her vicinity, was when she was in his arms, close to him. He took a sip of his whiskey and looked at the couple dancing in the middle of the room. The smile was bound to come on his face, because she was staring at the couple with a wide smile, the one he is so used to in his life. When she looked at him, there was a second when he thought that there was something more in her eyes. His smile started to falter, when Steve came and kissed her.

 

 

 

 

It’s been weeks since they had a normal talk without being awkward. Caroline was missing his dimples which used to appear so often around her. He was more broody and talked when required. Caroline tried to reach him, for silly tasks, but, every time she turned around for his help, someone else would have fixed the issue. She started to assume that the whole world is against her now.

 

 

 

 

“Stefan….” He was in his cubicle when she came and stood there, with her fingers unconsciously fiddling with her ring. Stefan kept the book aside.

“Don’t you want to keep the bookmarker there?” she pointed at his book.  _The Great Gatsby_ , the edition she picked up a long time ago.

“I, uh… I don’t need to. I will remember the page.”

“Because you have read it a million times.” He chuckled lightly on her comment.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you.” Stefan became a little attentive on her tone.

She took a deep breath before speaking out the speech she prepared and was going to recite for the millionth time, but the first one for him to hear.

“I know that sometimes I act without thinking, but if I have done something which might have had hurt your feelings or if I have said something wrong, which made things awkward between us, I would like to apologize. Because you are my really good friend, and I don’t want to lose you and-“

“Caroline. It’s not you. My head was all over the place, these days. And I am sorry.”

“Stefan, I wanted to talk about something else, as well.” His eyes were earnest and attentive, and when was he not? But, this time, it felt something more than a request, like he knew what she was going to say.

“I was actually thinking-“she was cut and was caught in surprise, when Denise came and hugged her.

“What was that for?” Caroline’s confusion was going higher and higher.

“That was my big congratulations to you.”

“For what?”

“Oh so now you will act as if it’s not a big news? Steve told me that you guys are planning for fixing the wedding date.”

Stefan’s whole body was stiffened, and for a while he couldn’t hear anything happening around him.

The first thing she did was to check on him, and the look on his face was breaking her heart.

“Stefan, I-“

“Congratulations.” he told her before she could have said anything. “I wish you and… Steve a happy life.” the words were concise and clear. He took his bag and left the office, leaving behind his words which were still ringing in her ears.

She didn’t know what just happened. She thought, he might be sad or mad, but he wasn’t. He gave her his genuine smile, and she should have been fine, that, he was finally talking to her. But she felt annoyed on the fact that it didn’t matter to him, if she was looking for a marriage date or not. She was waiting for him to stop or turn around to look at her, to tell her anything, to give any kind of hint. He didn’t do any of it. And he was out of her sight, the moment she made up her mind to talk herself out.

 

 

 

 

The wind was blowing heavily on his way home. If it was the wind making his eyes wet or was it just him being himself, he doesn’t know now. He wanted so much things to change around himself, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t in his hands, she wasn’t his anymore. The winds were still blowing, when the clouds decided to burst into million pieces and the falling raindrops were mixed with his own tears.

 

 

 

 

 

“What are you doing?” Caroline was almost running on her heels towards him, when he was about to keep the boxes in his hands on the table.

“These boxes has to go into the store room.” She walked him towards the store, while she was on the phone giving orders to the rest of the workers.

“So. We didn’t talk since the last weekend. Is your head still all over the place?” she squinted her eyes a little and laughed a little.

“No, it’s just… we have so much of work, don’t we?” he put his hands in his front pocket.

“Are you ignoring me?” she knew she is being pushy right now, but she couldn’t help herself.

“Even if I want to, I won’t be able to do that Caroline.” There was a genuine smile on his face, but it was hurting her to see the pain filling his eyes, more than the way it was affecting him. He crossed her and moved forward to come out of the store.

“Steve and I broke up.” She had no idea why she needed to give him the information, but around him, she wants to know him everything about herself.

He stopped abruptly on his way out, his heart stopped at the same time her words started to sink in his head.

“Let’s get back to work, then.” For a second, he saw the glimmer of sadness on her face, which she turned into her wide- heart laughter.

 

 

 

 

 

She never realized when it was past midnight, and she was still in the office. Not like she regrets to be there. After all, he was there too.

“I am so tired, that I just don’t wanna go home anymore.” She didn’t even cared to open her eyes to look at him, when walked towards her.

“Well, we are not going to spend our Friday night over here.” She was shocked when he took her wrist and pulled her out of her couch.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I want to show you something, let’s go.” All the way to the car, he didn’t leave her wrist, and it was securely held by him.

 

 

 

 

“Oh-kay. It’s a football ground.”

“Yes, it is.” Stefan took out the bottle of whiskey and tossed it over to her.

“And…. What are we doing here? With  _this_?” she angled her eyes over the bottle.

“I thought, sometimes, we need to have some fun too, and we should celebrate for the success you brought to the company.”

“I wasn’t working alone for that, you know.” After a long time, she saw his dimpled smile, with his eyes filled with nothing but concern for her.

Almost drunk, and laughing with hiccups, they ended up racing with each other in the giant ground.

“I will beat you.”

“We will see, Caroline.”

They both fell together on the ground, and all the space around them was filled with their own giggles.

“You fell.” She slurred.

‘As if, you didn’t.” His stares were lingering too much than he wanted them to be, and his heart jumped even more, when all of a sudden she hiccupped and started laughing like a kid.

‘We should go now, duty calls tomorrow!” she burst into a series of laughter at his suggestion.

“What’s so funny?”

“You said  _dutty_!” her words were slippery on her own tongue.

“You are drunk now, more reasons to go home.” He tried to pull her straight, instead she just pushed him away with a grown.

“You always know how to make me happy, Stefan.” She lied down on the grass, and stared at the full moon shining in the darkest night sky. He followed her, and stared in the same direction.

“This was to distract me from Steve, wasn’t it?”

“I am sorry.” His hands were resting on his side, when she decided to take it in hers, and squeezed it lightly.

“Just make sure, not to punch him like you did to Tyler.” His reflexes were weak, and when he processed her words, and turned to look at her, she was already in a deep sleep.

Her light snores were like the chime in his ear, and counting her breaths in and out, he went in the world of his own dreams. After a long time, he cuddled like this with her, peacefully wrapped around her.


	5. Chapter 5

“Caroline?” Susan wasn’t sounding happy, and when Caroline turned and saw her, the face confirmed her doubts, if there were any.  
“Where the hell is your mind these days?” Susan crossed her arms, standing tall and straight in front of Caroline.  
“What have I done now?”  
“You are late for one, and two… about that day off you took yesterday, I am not fond of those.”  
“I wasn’t well yesterday.” and she isn’t now either. Having a weird flu and on top of it the migraine called Susan is hovering around her head.  
Susan was still muttering when she left her office room. Caroline couldn’t let herself be angry with anyone, how could she? An automatic smile spread on her lips when her head started to spin with one and only one name, the one which has almost taken her entire life these days.  
The headache was coming and going, and so her migraine decided to make it’s residence on her head.  
“Hey Caroline, are you busy?” Maria was on her door, with a bunch of files holding under her arms.  
“Hey. I am not busy. what happened?”  
“I was going through some files, and the budget ain’t matching with the one we had in our source system.” Maria continued on showing her the budget lines she picked up and marked. Caroline tried to concentrate as much she could.  
“I didn’t know you sketch.” Maria pointed out in the middle of their conversation  
“I do what?” Caroline couldn’t understand her, and when Maria pointed her marker at her note, it was way more confusing for her.  
“I didn’t make this.” Staring at her note wasn’t making things any clearer.  
“whatever, it’s a nice rose though. Do you like black rose or something?”  
“I, uh, I don’t know. I think, I do.” she stared at the black rose, the one which her subconscious mind drew magically, thinking about where she has seen it before.

 

 

“So, Stefan” He looked at Caroline when he heard his name.  
“Tell me about yourself.” she was playing with the lettuce in her salad, which to him, looked as if she was deciding if she should eat it or not.  
“what do you wanna know?” He kept his fork aside, and now all his attention was on her.  
“Anything…. like, you know, we have been working with each other for so long and, I think… I think we should know more about each other.”  
He raised an eyebrow and she started talking again. “okay, let’s start with your family. Tell me about them.”  
“I am an orphan.”  
“Oh, I am sorry.”  
“It’s okay. I was five years old, when they were in the plane crash. I don’t even remember so much about them.”  
“Anyone else in your family? I mean, a brother, or someone?”  
“Not in particular.” Caroline kept her hand over his right one, circling her thumb over the back of his hand. The anxiety which he was feeling a while ago, started to vanish.  
“Well, I am a single child as well. But, a tough one.”  
“Of course, you are.” their understanding nods for each other was enough for them to be sure, they were there, as a support system.  
“What about your girlfriend?” she asked all of a sudden when they were all trying to fix the sound system in one of the event.  
“My, what?” with one loud bang, the sound system fused off.  
“I…” she wasn’t sure why was she asking him about this, and so, she just decided to leave him alone with the work.  
“I will see you later.” Stefan opened his mouth, but she was already gone by that time.

 

 

“Enjoying the view, huh?” Stefan approached her, when she was in her own thoughts and was standing in one of the corner of the room.  
“Something like that.” she answered in a low voice.  
“I, uh, I don’t have a girlfriend.” He stated without even asking her once the reason she asked the question.  
“why?”  
“What do you mean?” he frowned  
“I mean, you are handsome, and smart, and you are, well.. you. Any girl would be happy to throw herself on you.” her eyes were wandering all over him. Stefan in tux was one of the best one on her top ten view list.  
He chuckled and looked down on his feet.  
“I am not a talking kind of guy, and I am kind of a loner, and I don’t think girls would like that in a guy.”  
“Oh, please. Your charms are enough for a girl to swoon for you.”  
“Does it work?” his teasing smile made the butterflies in her stomach flutter.  
“Maybe.” They both laughed looking tensed a little.  
“Are you still available for the dinner… the one you asked a while ago?” his heart was beating so fast that he assumed the whole world must be able to hear it.  
“I would gladly come.” the feeling of freshness around them was new, and it was just the beginning of a new story to blossom.

 

 

It wasn’t even a second she knocked, and he was on the door. He stopped moving the moment his eyes fell on her.  
“I hope I am not overdressed.” He looked at her, the blue of her dress was making her eyes more deep like the ocean. Everything about her was breathtaking for Stefan. Her curls falling perfectly on her shoulder, bouncing with her every breath.  
“No, you look… perfect.” the smile on her face widened even more when he looked at her like she was the universe to him.  
She scanned his house, noticing every inch of the room. The table was set for two, with the candles in the middle.  
“I am still working on the sauce. I will let you know once it is done.”  
“I can help.”  
“It’s okay, Caroline, make yourself comfortable. It won’t take much time.”  
“But, I want to help.” stubborn as she was, she was already putting the apron on herself.  
“Caroline.” He sighed, and as much as he knows her, he had lost the conversation already. “Just make sure, you won’t spill anything on yourself.”  
“And why would I do that?” Stefan shook his head, and went back to stirring the spatula in the sauce.

 

“Who is Tyler by the way?” Stefan knew this wasn’t the right time to mention but he had to know.  
“Tyler?” Her eyes were fixed on him, and the name was hitting her like the shooting star. “I don’t know any Tyler.”  
“Okay.” He smiled at her and stared at the saucepan in front of him.  
When he didn’t said anything further, she decided to take the step first. “Who is Tyler?”  
“You took his name once.”  
“I did? I don’t even remember that.” she was getting panicky on the recent events she had fallen into. Things were not making any sense to her.  
“It’s okay, it is nothing important. Sometimes, we just say things which are in our subconscious mind, and are unable to figure it out.”  
She was in her thoughts when the spatula was raised in front of her mouth.  
“Do you wanna taste it?” as the spatula touched her lips, and she savour the taste of the sauce, she felt like she had tasted it before.  
“It’s the best one I have had.” He curled his lips upward when he saw her lips stained with red of the sauce. His thumb automatically reached there, swiping her soft lip, smearing her lipstick a little. It wasn’t like she was new to his touch, but this time she forgot to breathe.  
He took his hands away from her lips, and cleared his throat. “Uh, the… sauce.”  
“Thanks.” Stefan was the first one to break the gaze. He didn’t want to go there until she is ready. He can’t make the mistake he did few weeks back by leaning in, when she wasn’t even ready for it.  
Caroline felt uneasy on his sudden withdrawal, but she was good at pretending, and they both decided to act like the tension in the air wasn’t because of them. Because, no one ever declared that they were officially on a date.

 

“I, uh, I don’t dance.”  
“But, you are so good at it.” He raised an eyebrow on her comment, which she realized was out of the context. They were having the dinner he prepared, and it was almost nine past ten in the clock.  
“I mean, you must be good at it.” He raised his head, the smug all over his face, when she started to fail in backing up her slip. And when he smiled at her, eyes dancing on her face, she was already turning red.  
“You are my best cook.” She tried to change the subject, and yet again she slipped in calling him her own.  
“Am I?” his lips were smiling teasingly, and she bit her tongue for having so much of alcohol in her system. Okay, she had just one glass of wine, and she doesn’t get drunk so easily.  
“Shut up.” The only way she knew to end the topic. His laughter is the best sound in the whole world for her now.  
He cracked some silly joke, and she laughed like a kid, and these are the best days of his life.  
“You can watch the TV, while I clean the dishes.” He stood up, taking the plates, when at the same time she reached for the plate.  
Her soft fingers, touching the back of his hand, and it had a tingling effect on him.  
All plates cleaned and washed, he never realized when, and how he asked her to dance and they ended up moving with the song.  
The radio chose to turn into the station with the song, slow and intense, the lights automatically switched to turn dim, peaking at their delicate moment. The moment his hands fell on her back, resting on her waist, and the whole world around her stopped spinning.  
“It’s a nice song.” Caroline started with a silly note.  
“Yes, it is.”  
“And you do love dancing, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to dance.”  
“Maybe I am enjoying it because I am dancing with you.” The stares lingered on each others lips, and ended up fixed into their eyes. He was leaning in, closing the whatsoever space was there between them, but he stopped, still being unsure of how to move forward. she cleared his doubts, when leaned in and when their lips perfectly locked, fitting into each other.  
She could feel his hand grabbing her face, holding her there, taking the handful of her her curls. She might have thought she would fall if she wouldn’t holding the collar of his shirt. She was feeling euphoric, like she was floating in the sky. The sky being blue and clear, and the sun spreading its wing, mixing its own color with it. A moment was enough to realize, that she was mixing the reality with her imagination. But, it never felt so imaginary, and more like flashes of something happened before.  
she broke their kisses, frowning at him, at the image she was still seeing in front of her.

“One of us probably should say something.”  
“Go for it.”  
“Not that!”

“What the hell was that?” she looked at him like she was seeing a ghost.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“I, was… I…” her stuttering were making him even more confuse. One moment they were deeply in the kiss, and the next he couldn’t understand what went wrong.  
“I need to go.”  
“Is everything fine?” The fear inside him was on the brim, when she headed towards the sofa to take her purse.  
“Caroline, what’s wrong.” He was losing the strength to even stand still.  
“I don’t know. I just, have to go. Or else I will go crazy.” He wanted to follow her, but as usual his feet were glued to the floor, and he stood there, listening to her every step away from him, her every breath, and with the sound of the ignition, she was gone. They had to stop ending like this, or else it would become a slow death for him.


	6. Chapter 6

she was rolling on her bed, with her restless dreams. The face which was in the black shadows of the black cloud, started to clear out. The person, she was happy as well as dreaded to look at in her dreams. That was one of those days. She could see him, hear him calling her name.

_Caroline._

The name felt sweeter to her. People have called her with short names, have given her pet names, Care being the famous one. But, again, he wasn’t like others. The way he called her, it looked like he adored every alphabet of it, as if each of those letters danced on his tongue, creating a symphony.

However, it was just a dream. Or not? She couldn’t tell…. how could she? After all, she had lost the power of differentiating between reality and her fantasies.

Stefan was working on fixing the lights, while Caroline was busy cooking.

_“Are you trying to cook or burn the house?” Stefan waved his hands in front of him, to clear out the smoke which had been filled in the whole kitchen._

_“Apparently there is something wrong with the oven. Its not my fault.”_

_Stefan stood in front of her and rubbed his hands over her shoulder, soothing her tensed muscles._

_“How can you calm me down, just by touching me?”_

_Stefan smiled and leaned into whisper in her ears “It’s my speciality.” Butterflies in her stomach weren’t new for her, and when they started to flutter with her every breath touching her skin, she knew her whole body is going to be electrified._

_“What will I do without you?”_

_“Don’t try to cook?” he suggested, and she slapped his shoulder._

_“Ha-ha. Very funny.” She gave him a soft push on his shoulder making him chuckle, but stopping her hands to move away from him. He was pulling her closer and closer to himself, while her breaths were running wild._

_“You are making me numb.” her whispers made him smile._

_“Hmm… you shouldn’t be.” He whispered as well, his breaths falling on her cheek, when trailed his the edge of his nose on her face._

She was wide awake, but she still had tears. It was the first time in her life that she felt being so happy. She wanted all of that to be true. The way he held her tight in his arms, and she played with his arms, trailing her fingers on his tattoo, she was feeling more alive in her dreams than in the reality. Her thoughts came to a halt, and the new series of thoughts started to attack her, when her eyes caught the drawing. The same drawing she drew a while back, without even realizing it, she had drawn a perfect rose…. the same one Stefan had as the tattoo in her dreams.

“But… it was just a dream.” She was shaking in fear, and confusion. Her hands flew to her head to stop her spinning head.

 

 

 

 

“Stefan?” Susan called him, when he reached the office. “I have sent you the email, regarding all the information about our new event. Go through it and make a list of all the suitable places accordingly.” Stefan’s frown were clearly visible. But, Susan ignored them, considering the fact that he likes to brood.

“But…” Susan was leaving but Stefan stopped her. “All these things are looked by Caroline. She is the one who takes care of this.” Stefan’s eyes were all over the place, searching for her.

“She isn’t here. And if she is going by this behaviour, I am sure it won’t be much late in her firing news.” Stefan’s heart sank. He had tried her phone, but everytime  he did, it went to her voicemail. The hope of seeing her in the office vanished as well.

His hands reached to his cellphone, and dialed the recent call from the log. He tried until the dial tone went dead. Being a frantic was an understatement for the situation he was in. He sighed in exhaustion. Last time he saw her was when she was in his house, in his arms, and kissing him. He still had no clue about the reason she left, and making everything awkward. The only thing he knew, and he could do was the fact that he couldn’t lose her…. again.

 

 

 

Its been days, since Caroline came out of her room. She wanted to figure out things. But how… she had no idea. The doorbell rang, and she was in no mood of opening the door.

“Caroline?”

Her heart stopped beating for a second, when she heard him. Taking the two steps backward, she stared at the locked door.

“Caroline… I know you are there. Please… open the door.” His cracking voice, the pain, the hurt, everything was clear, as if she could see him.

“I won’t go anywhere, unless you open it.” He closed his eyes, wishing to see her one more time, to have just one glimpse.

His heart started beating faster when he heard the sound of unlocking the door.

“Hey.” She looked weak to him. Like that was the last dinner she had with him, and after that she just stopped eating.

“Are you okay?” He wanted the answer to be yes. But, he knew she would say the opposite of what she was feeling.

“I am fine.”

“Caroline-”

“Stefan, I think I am not well, and if you will stand here long, you would probably catch whatever flu I am having right now.” with a quick good-bye she was about to close the door. However, Stefan wasn’t ready yet, and he stopped the moving door with his hand.

“I don’t care about any flu…. even if it’s there.” The words were difficult to come out of his mouth. “We need to talk.”

“I don’t know what to talk about, Stefan.” she moved inside her house while speaking and he followed.

“Is this because of the kiss? Did I… do something wrong?”

“No.” The answer came instantly. “It’s not.. the kiss.. “

“Then why are you ignoring me?” Caroline stole a look at him, but wasn’t able to say anything, in a fear that he will think about her as a crazy person.

“Don’t stop living, Caroline.” He said after a few minutes. “I will leave the town, go away… far away from you. But, please don’t stop living your life. You love your job. Don’t give up on it.” He kept going without know the cause. “Because Caroline never gives up on anything. If she is struggling, she comes out of it, because, if anyone can work through their problems, however hard they are…. it’s Caroline… it’s you.” He looked into his hands, and looked back at her. “And if you want to live a life without me? if I am the reason of your worries-”

“You will leave me.” she finished off his sentence, staring at him like she couldn’t believe her ears.

“If that’s what you want.”

“I don’t.” His muscles relaxed a bit to hear that. “All I want is to clear my head out, Stefan.” she took a deep breath  before continuing. “For the past few days, or months I guess… I think I see things or daydream, but they feel so real to me, like I have already lived those moments, and I feel like having deja vu all the time.” Stefan’s face worried her, because it was hard to know what he was thinking. “I know you must be thinking that I am crazy.”

“I am not.”

“Then, you should.” Her response made him frown. “Because I am crazy.”

“I don’t think you are Caroline.”

Caroline laughed humorlessly. “Oh I am not? You know I feel things which never happened, for example I think there is some kind of tattoo on your arm, the one I saw it in my dreams. Now tell me that I am not being crazy and imagining things.”

The meteor hit him hard, and the truth started to sink in, realization coming to surface, and now he knew what was happening.

He pulled off his jacket, confusing Caroline even more. And when he rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, her eyes were wide, stopping her entire world. The tattoo on the same exact position, like she saw in her dreams.

“You are not…. crazy.. Caroline.”

“What are you?” the question came next, like she knew the answer to that somehow. Her instincts telling her, pushing her to believe the dreams.

 

 

_“Stefan, promise me.”_

_“I promise you.” His hands were playing with her hair. They were on the bed, sleeping side by side._

_“You didn’t even hear, what I am asking for.” she nudged him laughing with giggles._

_“I don’t have to, but I can hear what you want.”_

_“Promise me you will never remove that tattoo.”_

_“Why would I remove it?”_

_“I don’t know. I am saying just in case, you know. It just reminds me, how much i love to draw it with my fingers.” she played along her words, and he chuckled._

_“Well, I can’t miss that…. can I?” he looked at her and smiled. “I promise you I will never take this out. and even if I did, I will get the same one again… on the same spot.”_

 

“What do you think I am?” Stefan moved a bit closer to her, trying to read her expressions. She couldn’t say anything. Even having the thoughts like that, was driving her nuts. And he knew what she was thinking.

“I am not a vampire, Caroline.” He said it right there, without thinking. She had the right to know, for the sake of her sanity. “Not anymore.”


End file.
